Manitoba to Test New Alert Ready System on Wednesday

The Manitoba government will perform a province-wide test of the new Alert Ready system on Wednesday.

The system, put into place as mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, utilizes broadcasters to transmit crucial emergency alerts to their audiences.

“We now have the ability to send more alerts to more people, faster, enabling them to take action and stay safe,” said Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton.

“Only alerts regarding an imminent or unexpected threat to life will be broadcast and these will be based on criteria developed by government officials. The list includes a broad range of events such as tornados, flash floods, wild fires and biohazards.”

Alert Ready is operated by Pelmorex Media Inc., the parent company of The Weather Network and MétéoMédia, and developed in partnership with federal, provincial and territorial emergency management officials, Environment Canada and the broadcast industry.

A provincewide Alert Ready test message will be sent out over television and radio at 1:58 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6.

News websites (like this one) can pull an RSS feed to automatically alert readers of such alerts by the system.

Plans are already underway to extend the alerts to mobile devices via push notifications or text messages in the next year or two.